Ubuntu zoo preps for new arrival

Killer rabbit or jackalope

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Unassuming Ubuntu has announced a new clever creature is coming to its alliterative aggregation of Linux distros.

The Jaunty Jackalope is the neat nomenclature for the 9.04 version of Ubuntu Linux, with 9.04 being, in the Ubuntu Y.MM scheme of distro versions, 2009 April.

The Jackalope is a mythical cross between a jack rabbit and an antelope, a rabbit with horns that can run very fast and imitate human sounds. Female jackalopes sleep belly upwards and can be milked as they sleep, with the fluid being used for medicinal purposes. They need lightning and hailstorms to breed and their meat tastes like lobster. This is a confused creature.

The current Ubuntu version, known as the Hardy Heron, was released in April 2008, to be succeeded by the Intrepid Ibex in October. These releases come along at six month intervals. Ubuntu founder and space tourist Mark Shuttleworth has emailed developers with jaunty jackalope thoughts. He wants it to get up and running faster and to run local applications and cloud applications as if they were pretty much the same as far as the user is concerned, a 'weblication' in Shuttleworth's view.

All the code will be stored in the blissful Bazaar version control system to make it easier for the dedicated developers.

Shuttleworth raises the prospect of Ubuntu becoming a much stronger competitor to Windows and Mac OS in 2009, with several million consumer devices, from netbook to desktop PC running it.

What on earth will Ubuntu 9.10 be called?. Punning pheasant? Mighty moose? Gritty groundhog? Whatever, but for sure it will be an awful alliteration. ®